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Physicist Stephen Hawking Calls Trump a ‘Demagogue’


FILE - Stephen Hawking in his office at University of Cambridge, where he founded the Center for Theoretical Cosmology. (Science Museum)
FILE - Stephen Hawking in his office at University of Cambridge, where he founded the Center for Theoretical Cosmology. (Science Museum)

He can explain general relativity and the mystery of black holes, but theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking can’t explain the rise of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

During an interview Tuesday on Britain's ITV news, Hawking was asked to explain the billionaire’s appeal.

"I can't," Hawking replied. "He is a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator."

Hawking is not the first Briton to criticize the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, for example, were critical of Trump’s comments that Britain has a “massive Muslim problem.”

Trump has not yet responded to Hawking’s comments.

Hawking is a University of Cambridge professor who suffers from motor neurone disease that has left him mostly paralyzed. During the interview, he also discussed other issues, including climate change, Britain’s possible departure from the European Union and a 2014 biographical movie, “The Theory of Everything.”

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